Sea-Based Missiles to Target a Redefined Threat

By

Yochi J. Dreazen and

Peter Spiegel

Updated Sept. 18, 2009 12:01 a.m. ET

WASHINGTON -- The U.S. plans to deploy sea-based SM-3 interceptor missiles in 2011 as part of its plan to rely on a mix of small, relatively inexpensive defensive systems to counter an evolving Iranian threat.

The White House confirmed Thursday that it would abandon efforts to build a large-scale missile-defense system in Eastern Europe, canceling a program that had become a source of Russian anger. The plan, still in the blueprint stage, would have built a large radar array in the Czech Republic and deployed 10 interceptor missiles to Poland.

ENLARGE

An unused hangar at a Polish base in 2007 that had been expected to host part of a U.S. missile-defense system.
Associated Press

Instead, the U.S. plans the SM-3 deployment, followed by a more advanced version of the system in 2015 that would include defensive missiles that could be launched from both sea and land.

The SM-3 missiles that will be used in the new plan are significantly smaller than missiles envisioned in the Bush-era plan. They are also meant to address a different threat: shorter-range missiles, which typically fly slower and closer to the ground than ICBMs.

Defense Secretary Robert Gates also said the newer system would put initial missile defenses into place roughly seven years earlier than had been envisioned under the Bush plan.

"Those who say we are scrapping missile defense in Europe are either misinformed or misrepresenting the reality of what we are doing," Mr. Gates said at the Pentagon. "It is more adapted to the threat we see developing."

Mr. Gates said the moves came in response to new U.S. intelligence assessments that Iran was developing short- and medium-range ballistic missiles more rapidly than had been thought. Such missiles can potentially hit targets in Europe or the Middle East but can't reach the U.S.

The defense chief said U.S. intelligence agencies concluded that Iran was having a hard time building long-range missiles. That argued against continuing to build the Bush administration's defensive system, which was designed almost exclusively to destroy intercontinental ballistic missiles bound for the U.S., defense officials said.

The announcement sparked immediate controversy. Former Bush administration officials warned that the new system could leave the U.S. and its allies vulnerable if Iran builds long-range missiles.

Mary Beth Long, who worked on missile-defense issues as an assistant secretary of defense until the end of the Bush administration, said she was "shocked" to hear the findings of the new estimates.

Ms. Long said that, based on intelligence she reviewed while at the Defense Department, there were indications Iran's long-range program had encountered problems, but there were no signs that Tehran has abandoned its efforts.

"I don't see any reason to believe that those shortcomings that may now be present aren't shortcomings they're working extra-hard to overcome," Ms. Long said. "And there's no indication that I'm aware of that they don't have the resources and capabilities to overcome it indigenously."

Appearing with Mr. Gates at the Pentagon, Marine Gen. James Cartwright, vice chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said the new system would allow the U.S. to deploy potentially hundreds of SM-3 missiles to sites in Europe and on American ships in nearby waterways, far more than the 10 ground-based defensive missiles that were to have been deployed to Poland under the Bush administration plan.

Gen. Cartwright said the change was designed to address the possibility that Iran or another rogue state could build and launch hundreds of shorter-range missiles, rather than a handful of longer-range ones.

The Pentagon will also drop its plans to build a sophisticated radar array in the Czech Republic capable of seeing incoming missiles launched from any direction.

The radar was a particular source of Russian pique because Moscow feared it would allow the U.S. to see deep into Russia and monitor the launch of any of its missiles.

Gen. Cartwright said the new system could only be pointed in a single direction at one time. It would likely be arrayed in the Caucasus, he said. "It'll be very clear that it is pointing south towards Iran," Gen. Cartwright said.

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